Science on Tap: Chris Paparo’s Geek Talks Turn 10

When Chris Paparo did his first science talk in 2015, he had no idea there would even be a second talk.

What began innocently as a naturalist who liked beer simply trying to drum up some business for his hometown friends marked a milestone earlier this year as Paparo's popular lecture series - now called Geek Talks - celebrated its 10-year anniversary.

In addition to serving as assistant director for Southampton programs and Marine Sciences Center Manager for the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), Paparo is also a writer, wildlife photographer, lecturer and owner of Fish Guy Photos.

"And," he added, "I like beer."

In 2015, Paparo stopped for a pint at Moustache Brewing Company, a local brewery owned by a friend in his hometown of Riverhead on eastern Long Island. He noticed the Thursday night business was slow and got the idea to bring two of his passions - science and beer - together.

He proposed a one-off lecture called "Drinking with the Fish Guy." The brewery loved the idea and took it a step further, arranging to have a food truck at the event. Paparo borrowed a screen and projector, set up on the outdoor lawn, waited till dark and hoped anyoneshowed up. To his surprise, more than 100 people did.

"I did one of my underwater fish talks, just talking about underwater life like the fish and crabs and scallops and other things you see here on Long Island," said Paparo. "At the end everyone was saying, 'This was great! Can you do it again?'"

Paparo answered the call and another 100 people showed up the second time.

"It was cool, but we could only do it in the warm months because they only had that outdoor space," he said.

By the third summer, the brewery had expanded its tasting room. Paparo was finally able to move the talks inside and was preparing to do them year-round when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The ensuing quarantine and isolation brought a need for some kind of social interaction and entertainment, so Paparo took "Drinking With the Fish Guy" online.

The lectures, held as a Zoom meeting, were still drawing 40-50 people every week. "They showed up no matter who the speaker was or what that topic was," Paparo said. "At that point I realized that we had built a reliable community of people."

With a finite number of his own lectures, Paparo opened it up to his Stony Brook colleagues, graduate students and friends from other organizations that he worked with to keep the community going.

Moustache Brewing was later bought out and reopened under a new name, übergeek Brewing Company, and Paparo approached the new owner about continuing the lectures. Given a second life, and with a nod to its new host, Geek Talks was born.

"Calling it Geek Talks meant I could bring in anybody to give a talk because there's always a topic that people geek out on," Paparo said.

In addition to science, lectures have ranged from colonial style cooking to early baseball to jazz.

"It snowballed to the point where I've got a waiting list for people to present," said Paparo. "I've already got speakers lined up for 2026 and it's going great. 10 years…it's unbelievable."

"I had the pleasure of giving several of the Geek Talks on topics including female pirates and the witch trial of Long Island," said SoMAS senior lecturer Tara Rider. "The crowd is always buzzing with excitement and full of great questions. It's the kind of audience that makes you feel energized. It allows me to view my topic through a non-academic lens and consider how history and nature shape all of us."

Geek Talks takes place every other Thursday, with about a dozen lectures each semester. Moving forward, Paparo hopes to get more graduate students and other members of the Stony Brook community involved.

"I think we as scientists can be better educated, and better educators," he said. "Sometimes I work side-by-side with a grad student for four or five years and when they defend their thesis, I have no idea what they're talking about because it's way over my head. And I think that when we have real-world challenges like climate change, people often don't understand it because they haven't heard it in a way that regular people can understand."

The only rule Paparo has for the lectures is "no charts, no graphs, no statistics, and no Latin names."

"I don't want them to be a scientist, I want them to be a storyteller and tell the story of their research," he said. "Why you got into it, how you do it, what we can do to help or be better. At a conference you have to do certain things because you're with your peers. But these aren't their peers, these are people that really need to know what's going on. The scientists already know what's going on, they just want to hear about new innovations and findings. Some of these students have gone on to speak in other places and I've helped a couple write articles for magazines, so it's been a good opportunity for me to give back a little bit."

One of Paparo's goals is to get scientists to "hang up their science" for one night.

"Most people have never given a lecture while having a beer," said Paparo. "It puts you in a different state of mind.And a lot of them say 'I'm not going to drink. I'm going to do my lecture, and I'll have a beer after.' I'm always like, 'No! Have a beer! That's the whole point.' This is a venue where maybe you had something happen in the field that you can't talk about at a scientific conference, but it's still important. You never know who you're talking to."

Paparo said he is most proud of the community he has created with a beer glass, some bar space and science.

"I'm amazed at the community that I've built doing this," he said. "People come here every other Thursday for a night out with their friends. They have their own table. People meet and form relationships. We even had one couple who met at a Geek Talk get married. It's things like that and creating a sense of community and giving people more knowledge. To me, that's been the biggest highlight of this."

If you are interested in giving a Geek Talk, you can contact Paparo at [email protected]

- Robert Emproto